This morning the kids and I decided to write a novena prayer to St. Joseph to sell our house. You see, yesterday a family came to see it and they really liked it! They only need to get their mom's ok and they'll make an offer in a few days, so we are pretty excited.
Anyway, this is what we came up with as Margaret (5) came up with the rhymes, Andrew (4) drew and colored St. Joseph, and Lucy (7) wrote out the prayer (I left in her capitalization).
Dear Saint Joseph to thee we pray,
We start our Novena in the month of May.
Please help us Sell our house Soon
So that we can Move today at Noon.
Today in school we shall say this Novena
today and every Day help me be Good as Gold.
I love you Saint Joseph and all the Saints and Angels. Amen.
And Anne says to tell you we have a new baby.
Since it is already 11 AM, I don't expect St. Joseph to make me pack the whole house by noon, but I have no doubts he will hear the children's prayer and smile.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Selling a House and Finding a Home
St. Joseph, pray for us.
We put our house on the market towards the end of September, 2005. We thought we would sell it within a month and be in our new house by Thanksgiving. I packed up anything I didn't think we'd need until after Christmas to put in the garage, including summer clothes and books I usually use for Lent and Easter. A few people came to see it, but almost always right after a snowstorm, when there was mud on the floor from several pairs of little boots.
Well, the snowstorms are just about over for the winter, and our house is still on the market. I had to go a couple of times to dig through boxes to find that certain cookbook or an extra blanket (thank goodness I labeled most of the boxes before Ian took them out to the garage), but for the most part I haven't missed anything I packed away.
Our house still has too much "stuff" in it, but we have been slowly giving away, throwing away, and finding peace in less. When the realtor's office calls and says that someone wants to come see the house in an hour, we can say yes (the only exception was when I was in labor a couple of months ago), and have the house looking good and the kids in the van to go see their grandmother or Daddy within the time allotted.
I am not sure what I meant to say in this post, except that in spite of being ready to move to a new house since last October, I am at peace with being here a while longer. I hope we can begin the new school year in our new place in September, but I hoped we'd spend last Christmas there, too. I went through a small anxiety attack when I was about to give birth to my youngest son, but Ian assured me that I would not have to lift a finger if we had to move at that time, and since his birth, I have learned to take one day at a time, and fill it with as much prayer and happiness as I can. I really can't live as if this were no longer our home. I must let the kids play and not be afraid that they'll make a mess. This IS our home until we sell it, and we will surely have at least a month to pack things up before we move.
In the meantime, I am trying to finish up the school year with the kids, and give away or toss as much as possible. If something we have is not worth moving to a new place, out it goes. And since I have not missed most of what's in the garage, I am seriously considering just dropping off the boxes at a local charity! That's a lot of storage space that could be used for something we want to keep, or even for keeping it empty. I am sure that a lot of what we have could be more useful to someone else. I am striving to live simply and teach our kids to live simply as well.
If someone comes to see the house today and wants to buy it - GREAT! But if not, I can live with that too. Our novena doesn't end until Thursday. I can hang on patiently until then ;)
We put our house on the market towards the end of September, 2005. We thought we would sell it within a month and be in our new house by Thanksgiving. I packed up anything I didn't think we'd need until after Christmas to put in the garage, including summer clothes and books I usually use for Lent and Easter. A few people came to see it, but almost always right after a snowstorm, when there was mud on the floor from several pairs of little boots.
Well, the snowstorms are just about over for the winter, and our house is still on the market. I had to go a couple of times to dig through boxes to find that certain cookbook or an extra blanket (thank goodness I labeled most of the boxes before Ian took them out to the garage), but for the most part I haven't missed anything I packed away.
Our house still has too much "stuff" in it, but we have been slowly giving away, throwing away, and finding peace in less. When the realtor's office calls and says that someone wants to come see the house in an hour, we can say yes (the only exception was when I was in labor a couple of months ago), and have the house looking good and the kids in the van to go see their grandmother or Daddy within the time allotted.
I am not sure what I meant to say in this post, except that in spite of being ready to move to a new house since last October, I am at peace with being here a while longer. I hope we can begin the new school year in our new place in September, but I hoped we'd spend last Christmas there, too. I went through a small anxiety attack when I was about to give birth to my youngest son, but Ian assured me that I would not have to lift a finger if we had to move at that time, and since his birth, I have learned to take one day at a time, and fill it with as much prayer and happiness as I can. I really can't live as if this were no longer our home. I must let the kids play and not be afraid that they'll make a mess. This IS our home until we sell it, and we will surely have at least a month to pack things up before we move.
In the meantime, I am trying to finish up the school year with the kids, and give away or toss as much as possible. If something we have is not worth moving to a new place, out it goes. And since I have not missed most of what's in the garage, I am seriously considering just dropping off the boxes at a local charity! That's a lot of storage space that could be used for something we want to keep, or even for keeping it empty. I am sure that a lot of what we have could be more useful to someone else. I am striving to live simply and teach our kids to live simply as well.
If someone comes to see the house today and wants to buy it - GREAT! But if not, I can live with that too. Our novena doesn't end until Thursday. I can hang on patiently until then ;)
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Kids at Mass vs. Kids in CLOW
Here is a beautiful homily by Fr. Martin Fox about handing the Faith on to our children.
I often think about how many small children I actually see at Mass on Sunday, besides my own. We used to attend a Mass where CLOW (Children's Liturgy of the Word) was provided. All the kids would troop out to peppy piano music, and go to one of the community rooms down the hall. Later they would all come back and sit with their families. I didn't really know where they were going or what they were doing, but one day they all came back after their activities wearing crowns made of paper colored with crayons. The significance? It was the Feast of Christ the King. I could possibly understand making a crown to put on a statue of the Sacred Heart the kids might have at home, but why were the kids wearing the crowns themselves? I can only guess that they made the crowns while listening to someone tell them about Jesus being our King. As to why the crowns were made for the kids' heads? Maybe they learned that because of our Baptism we are part of the Royal Priesthood of Christ, and therefore deserve to be crowned like Him? Maybe since we make up the Body of Christ, we should wear His crown? Maybe it was just a fun activity for the kids to do while their teachers read to them? In any case, did the kids learn anything true about our Savior? Did they learn anything about the Mass (the "source and summit" of our Faith)? I wonder.
A priest once said, when asked why his parish did not offer much in the way of a "Sunday School" program: Parishes that have extensive Sunday school are parishes where the parents are not doing their job.
Now, I am not saying that CCD and other religious education programs do not have a place in parish life. I do wonder about the efficacy of sending our young ones out of Mass to do a fun activity (perhaps related to the day's readings) instead of teaching them about Mass (and how to behave there) ourselves. Where better to learn about the different parts of Mass than sitting in the pews? They can make paper crowns at home, can't they? Should Mass time be the time for that sort of activity? When they are too old to go to CLOW, will they be prepared participate in Mass? Will they know what the Mass is all about? Will they want to go anymore?
I often think about how many small children I actually see at Mass on Sunday, besides my own. We used to attend a Mass where CLOW (Children's Liturgy of the Word) was provided. All the kids would troop out to peppy piano music, and go to one of the community rooms down the hall. Later they would all come back and sit with their families. I didn't really know where they were going or what they were doing, but one day they all came back after their activities wearing crowns made of paper colored with crayons. The significance? It was the Feast of Christ the King. I could possibly understand making a crown to put on a statue of the Sacred Heart the kids might have at home, but why were the kids wearing the crowns themselves? I can only guess that they made the crowns while listening to someone tell them about Jesus being our King. As to why the crowns were made for the kids' heads? Maybe they learned that because of our Baptism we are part of the Royal Priesthood of Christ, and therefore deserve to be crowned like Him? Maybe since we make up the Body of Christ, we should wear His crown? Maybe it was just a fun activity for the kids to do while their teachers read to them? In any case, did the kids learn anything true about our Savior? Did they learn anything about the Mass (the "source and summit" of our Faith)? I wonder.
A priest once said, when asked why his parish did not offer much in the way of a "Sunday School" program: Parishes that have extensive Sunday school are parishes where the parents are not doing their job.
Now, I am not saying that CCD and other religious education programs do not have a place in parish life. I do wonder about the efficacy of sending our young ones out of Mass to do a fun activity (perhaps related to the day's readings) instead of teaching them about Mass (and how to behave there) ourselves. Where better to learn about the different parts of Mass than sitting in the pews? They can make paper crowns at home, can't they? Should Mass time be the time for that sort of activity? When they are too old to go to CLOW, will they be prepared participate in Mass? Will they know what the Mass is all about? Will they want to go anymore?
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